Don't Cry Oswego, New Onion Plant Will Bring More than 30 New Jobs

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Privately held start-up onion processor, Empire Produce Processors LLC (Oswego, New York) is planning to construct a new onion processing plant in Oswego, New York. The city of Oswego has been hit hard, as of late, with the loss of over 600 jobs through the closing of International Paper and Nestle plants in the city. Empire's new plant will in no way be able to replace the jobs lost from loosing those major industry players, but it is a shot in the arm for the areaýs economy.

The company selected a site on State Route 104 in Oswego to construct a 27,000 square foot production building and install onion processing equipment that will peel, slice, dice 2" & 5" locally grown onions for mainly food service industry customers.

Empire selected VIP Structures Incorporated (Syracuse, New York) as the general contractor on the $2.9 million project. The contractor is currently pouring concrete slabs for the building foundation and cooler structure and will have the building enclosed before winter weather sets in to allow construction and equipment installation to continue in hopes of having the project completed and ready to start receiving onions by the spring of next year.

The facility was also designed with expansion in mind allowing room for a future building addition and installation of a second processing line.

The founders of Empire Produce Processors are no strangers to the onion industry. Owners Jim and Sam Zappala have been successful onion growers in Oswego County for many years. The idea came together to add value to local grower's crops and create new jobs for the community.